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I rely on AI note-taking a lot. Every meeting I have is recorded by some form of AI tool so that the rest of the team can catch up later or I can remind myself about what was said. I’m really not sure how I lived without it before, but it’s the reason why I’ve been excited to spend some proper time with the viaim OpenNote earbuds.
I’ve never used a pair of AI-powered, transcription earbuds before (which is what the viaim OpenNotes are) and they sound like something dreamt up in a late-night Kickstarter brainstorm. But after using them for a week, I can confirm that these are real, surprisingly refined, and, most importantly, genuinely useful.
If you find yourself juggling meetings, interviews or important conversations often, these earbuds will definitely be of interest. Let’s take a look.
Shop the viaim OpenNote earbuds below!
Design and Comfort
Right off the bat, the OpenNote earbuds are comfortable, mainly down to their open-ear design. That means they don’t sit within your ear canal, instead they perch just outside it, held in place by a flexible 0.8mm titanium memory wire. If you’ve never used open-ear earbuds before, they are a revelation for long-term wear. There’s no ear pain and they are often so light that you forget about them after a while.
The viaim OpenNotes are no exception to that rule. Even with glasses, I was able to wear them for many hours without discomfort: back-to-back video meetings, phone calls, and even out on a run (more on that later), no issues whatsoever.
Aside from that, they are made from a very nice silicone rubber and they’re IP55-rated, so light rain, sweat or dust isn’t a problem. The only downside is that the case isn’t IP-rated, but that’s really a minor nitpick.
Transcription and Translation
Here’s where things get genuinely interesting. With a long press on either earbud stem, you activate FlashRecord. This starts the recording feature instantly which is great because it means there’s no faffing with apps or digging through your phone. Whether you’re on a call, in a face-to-face chat, or halfway through a ramble, it just starts capturing.
It doesn’t stop if a notification or call comes in, either. The recording keeps going in the background, which is a small but significant detail that shows how intuitively these earbuds have been designed.
Another excellent part of the experience is that transcriptions appear live in the app. They’re quick and can even distinguish between speakers with reasonable accuracy in my testing. I’ve tried them during our weekly team call with three speakers, and while it didn’t get absolutely every word right (although it was pretty close!), it was certainly good enough to follow without confusion.
You can also tap to mark key moments, and after the conversation, the app summarises the discussion and generates a to-do list. It’s all very user-friendly and deliberately designed.
The translation feature was slightly harder to test, considering noone I know is fluent in a language other than English, but I tried it with a Spanish video on YouTube and it seemed to work well as far as I could tell. You can use the translation feature with 21 different languages and I’m sure more will be added soon.
As such, I don’t really have any issues with the main task these earbuds set out to complete. They work very well as intended, but they don’t stop there which is why I think these earbuds stand out from the crowd.
App and AI Features
The companion app is where a lot of the magic happens. Recordings sync across devices and are fully searchable, editable, and easy to share.
The app also identifies highlights in meetings automatically and formats notes for you. You can tag important moments (“We’ll follow up on that,” “Send a draft next week” etc) as they happen, and let the AI assemble a post-meeting summary. This isn’t just AI for the sake of it which I really can’t stand; it’s genuinely useful.
Dual-device connectivity should be a staple for all earbuds now and it works smoothly here. I had the earbuds paired to my phone and laptop simultaneously, and they switched between the two with minimal fuss. You can manage this manually in the app, but most of the time, the system handles it fine.
Audio Quality and Battery Life
Now, this is where I was really impressed. Although these are primarily transcription earbuds, there has also been a conscious effort by viaim to maintain a good level of audio quality. And it shows. This is important because I (and I’m sure you) don’t want to be continuously switching between different earbuds for different scenarios. That would make the OpenNotes much harder to recommend.
Thankfully, the 18×11mm polymer drivers deliver a surprisingly full and balanced sound. Remember these are open earbuds, sou you aren’t going to get the booming bass of a sealed in-ear set, but for what they are, the’yre great.
No, they aren’t the absolute pinnacle of audio quality, but they sound perfectly fine for everyday use. There’s support for LHDC high-res audio, and viaim includes 18 sound profiles, along with an 8-band EQ if you want to tweak things yourself. There’s also a low-latency gaming mode for mobile games and video calls.
I’ve used them on runs due to their open ear nature and had no issues. If you’re worried about getting tinny audio as the trade off for transcriptions, then don’t.
Battery life is more than respectable. You’ll get up to 19 hours from the earbuds and a whopping 53 hours total with the case. A 10-minute charge nets about three hours of playback, which is one of the most efficient showings I’ve ever tested on a pair of earbuds.
Who Are They For?
The viaim OpenNote earbuds are clearly designed for productivity first, but not totally at the expense of other stuff that you want to use earbuds for. If your day involves meetings, lectures, interviews, or working with colleagues in different time zones, they make a lot of sense.
Freelancers, journalists, students, content creators, and remote workers will get the most out of them. They take the stress out of note-taking, let you focus on conversations, and help with organisation after the fact.
If you’re just after something to blast your gym playlist, you could be better served elsewhere. But I often find that inspiration strikes when I’m working out, so if I didn’t have the OpenNotes, I wouldn’t have the chance to record what could be some valuable ideas on the go.
The Drawbacks
They’re not perfect. The transcription can falter in really noisy environments, I’m talking on loud trains or big crowds, and the charging case really should have the same water resistance as the earbuds.
And while the earbuds are light and comfortable, the open-ear format means you will lose out on passive noise isolation. That’s the trade-off, but an essential one if you want to be able to hear yourself talking at the same time.
Final Thoughts
The viaim OpenNote earbuds aren’t flashy. They don’t follow the AirPods crowd or try to wow you with style over substance. Instead, they quietly solve a specific set of problems, and do so better than most AI-enabled devices I’ve tested.
They make meetings easier to manage, they simplify lengthy notes and help you keep track of what was said without scrambling for a notepad or just outright forgetting things. And they do it all while staying out of the way and being solid earbuds for listening to music.
If this is the kind of functionality you’re after, the OpenNotes are an excellent choice.
